New models power upgraded Anaheim auto show
ANAHEIM, CALIF. — The high price of gasoline may be guiding the automotive world to a more fuel-efficient future, but that message was scarcely seen or heard at the California International Auto Show, which became a high-performance fantasyland at the Anaheim Convention Center, appropriately located down the block from Disneyland.
The traditional Big Three of U.S. manufacturers led with the loudest roars. General Motors introduced a pair of high-performance Pontiac sedans – the GPX models of both the Bonneville and the Grand Prix – along with the new Hummer H3, which is a shrunken Hummer to accompany the Hummer and its more-mainstream H2 models. Ford, which is just now getting the redesigned 2005 Mustang to dealerships, unveiled the Saleen high-performance version of the new Mustang. And Chrysler, which has the 300C stirring up hot sales as a car of the year candidate for 2005, rolled out its SRT-8 high-performance version of the 300C as the perfect drive-in dominator.
Organizers of the California International Auto Show acknowledge that they are not in the same elite status as the Los Angeles and Detroit in January, or the later Chicago and New York shows. But the show is making large strides as a brief but significant preview of the bigger shows. Organizers have bigger things in mind, and the news and new introductions bolster their claim as being the biggest five-day show.
While the domestics made high-performance waves, other prominent introductions made this the most significant Anaheim show to date, including the 2006 Infiniti M45, which was thinly disguised as a concept car in order to delay “official†introduction until the Detroit Auto Show.
Audi showed the new, taller corporate grille of the new A6, which isnÂ’t scheduled for media introduction until the coming week. Jaguar took the wraps off its X-Type station wagon. Kia, meanwhile, introduced a new Sportage, recreating the popular but cramped SUV as a new and stylish version of the Tucson, a new compact SUV displayed nearby by Hyundai, KiaÂ’s Korean patron. Volvo, which hit truck-of-the-year paydirt with its XC-90 for the 2003 model year, presented a new V8 version of the XC-90, which wonÂ’t get its media introduction until the end of November. Honda and Toyota displayed the latest entries in their environmentally conscious duel, with Honda introducing its Hybrid Accord, while Toyota showed off its Lexus 400h, the hybrid version of the RX330 SUV.
GM vice president Bob Lutz joined his new high-performance toys on the floor of the centerÂ’s arena, and said the Bonneville GXP will be devoid of cladding but will be hot with its tweaked 4.6-liter, dual-overhead-cam North Star V8. The Grand Prix will gain a 5.2-liter pushrod V8 that can cut one bank of cylinders when cruising, or when not exercising its 5.9-second 0-60 acceleration capability.
The Ford unveiling included two specialty vehicles from Steve Saleen’s high-performance shop – a Saleen Mustang, and a Saleen Focus, which can achieve 250 horsepower with its standard-issue nitrous injection. Also unveiled was the GR-1, a concept that seems to have replaced the Shelby concept as Ford’s next potential project.
ChryslerÂ’s latest idea from its SRT (Street Racing Technology) shop is the SRT-8 model of the 300C. It has aerodynamic spoilers low on the chin and the rear, huge brakes, and the hot, 5.7-liter Hemi V8 bored out to 6.1 liters, with a forged crankshaft, sodium-filled valves and raised compression ratio conspiring to produce 425 horsepower and 420 foot-pounds of torque. It will go 0-60 in 5 seconds, cover the quarter-mile in the 13-second range, and spans 0-100-0 in about 17 seconds. The car will be available in the spring, in either a silvery-white or black.
The Kia stand was the scene for a couple of surprises. Being right in the heart of tuner-country – or Fantasyland, take your pick – a couple of little Spectras tricked out for the SEMA electronics show, which runs this week in Las Vegas. Then came the unveiling of the Sportage, which had faded from production as a tiny SUV, and now returns as an uptempo SUV that will be under $20,000 and challenges the Honda CR-V or Toyota RAV4.
Kia has improved its quality by 64 percent in J.D. Power ratings over the last five years, and the new Sportage will come in either two or four wheel drive, with either a 2.0-liter four or a 2.7-liter V6, with lockup axle capabilities. Kia officials estimate up to 60 percent of sales could go to women, at a price starting at $17,000.
Volvo went to Japan and worked closely with Yamaha to build a new, narrow-angle (60-degree) V8 for the XC-90. Volvo officials say the price will be $45,395 for the XC-90 V8, which will have 311 horsepower and 325 foot-pounds of torque. The 4.4-liter V8 will take the SUV from 0-60 in a scant 6.9 seconds, while also reaching super-ultra-low-emission vehicle II standards.
The Infiniti M will be loaded with luxury and performance features, with either a 280-horsepower V6 or a 340-horse V8, an all-wheel-drive system from the FX45 or G35, plus a DVD surround audio with 14 speakers, and even heated, power-reclining rear seats.
Along with the introductions, the best evidence of the rising status of the Anaheim show is that Chrysler, the traditional leader of clever showtime gimmicks, had a bevy of attractive young women on rollerskates escort the gathered media outside the Convention Center, where a couple dozen vintage Chrysler and Dodge Hemi-engined vehicles were lined up. We were ushered into the cars, which then drove us away in a caravan to a Sonic Burger drive-in. After burgers, onion rings and Cokes were served with 1950s and Â’60s music for background, up drove the glistening silvery-white 300C SRT-8 for its introduction.
Truly, the California International Auto Show has become more than just a valid preview of the bigger shows to come.
(John Gilbert writes weekly auto reviews, and can be reached at cars@jwgilbert.com.)
About the Author
John Gilbert is a lifetime Minnesotan and career journalist, specializing in cars and sports during and since spending 30 years at the Minneapolis Tribune, now the Star Tribune. More recently, he has continued translating the high-tech world of autos and sharing his passionate insights as a freelance writer/photographer/broadcaster. A member of the prestigious North American Car and Truck of the Year jury since 1993. John can be heard Monday-Friday from 9-11am on 610 KDAL(www.kdal610.com) on the "John Gilbert Show," and writes a column in the Duluth Reader.
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